You can always tell when the War Party wants a new war. They will invariably trot out the Argumentum ad Hitlerum.

Before the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam had become “the Hitler of Arabia,” though he had only conquered a sandbox half the size of Denmark. Milosevic then became the “Hitler of the Balkans,” though he had lost Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia, was struggling to hold Bosnia and Kosovo, and had defeated no one. Comes now the new Hitler.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11991.htm

New evidence on the killing of Sergeant Chris Hickey, of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, last October emerged yesterday, as it was revealed that two British soldiers were facing possible murder charges for allegedly shooting an Iraqi in the headwww.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2048571,00.html

The governing council of Karbala province said Monday it was suspending contact with U.S. forces over the behavior of soldiers during a visit to the governor’s office two days ago.tinyurl.com/lzor6

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Army stretched to breaking :

The Marines may be the most celebrated of the American armed forces, but it’s the Army that does most of the heavy lifting, as it is doing in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the process, the Army is being battered and shattered in the same way that it was in Vietnam.www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=EDARMY-02-20-06

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In case you missed it:

Video: Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War:

An impressive roster of experts is assembled to provide a generally withering commentary on the quality of evidence and possible motivations of the Neo-conservatives who provided the momentum and muscle behind America’s venture into preemptive war.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6423.htm

One of the Pentagon’s top civilian lawyers repeatedly challenged the Bush administration’s policy on the coercive interrogation of terror suspects, arguing that such practices violated the law, verged on torture and could ultimately expose senior officials to prosecutionwww.informationclearinghouse.info/article11997.htm

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US military planes criss-cross Europe using bogus call sign:

Not only is the call sign bogus ˜ according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) ˜ so, it appears, are some of the aircraft details the Americans have filed with the air traffic control authorities.www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2047074,00.html

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Bush ‘butcher of freedom’: bin Laden:

Osama bin Laden accused US forces of “barbaric” acts in Iraq comparable to those committed by Saddam Hussein, according to an audio tape first broadcast in January and posted on the internet in full today.tinyurl.com/rqr5b

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Commentary: Iraq, Iran unintended results:

When Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act into law Oct. 31, 1998, it paved the way for the March 2003 shock and awe invasion of Iraq. Some $300 billion later, including $10 billion in military hardware chewed up, the meter is still running.tinyurl.com/rtfcd

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US Asks Georgia to Use Bases and Airfields for Attacks on Iran ˜ Paper:

Following the Post’s report that the US was considering using military bases in Georgia as a platform for a possible attack on Iran, the Georgian chief of General Staff denied the claims.tinyurl.com/oswgs

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Iran to pursue atomic research despite Russian plan:

Iran vowed on Monday to pursue nuclear research even if talks in Moscow lead to agreement on a Russian offer to enrich uranium for Iranian power plants — a plan aimed at defusing fears Tehran wants atomic bombs.tinyurl.com/pq8jz

Iran’s Minister of Defense and Logistics of Armed Forces Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said that the human rights favored by US President George Bush are based on clandestine cells, torture, terror, wire tapping of American civilians, sacrilege to religious sanctities, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and attack on civilians.tinyurl.com/ompwp

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Jimmy Carter: Don’t Punish the Palestinians:

As the results of the recent Palestinian elections are implemented, it’s important to understand how the transition process works and also how important to it are actions by Israel and the United States.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11993.htm

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Linda McQuaig: If Hamas must renounce violence, so should Israel:

If Palestinians are going to be required to renounce violence ˜ as they should be ˜ shouldn’t Israel also be required to renounce violence, and to stop building settlements and walls on Palestinian territory?www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11987.htm

The head of the Arab League said Sunday that members would meet this week to hammer out a plan for sending millions of dollars a month to the Palestinian Authority, despite U.S. attempts to stop the flow of money to the new Hamas-led government.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11988.htm

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Blind eye to wheat kickbacks:

AUSTRALIAN government officials have known for at least five years that Saddam Hussein was corrupting the oil-for-food program but, like the UN, turned a “blind eye to it”, according to evidence at the Cole inquiry.tinyurl.com/lzh9v

The increasing isolation of the US in the region was demonstrated at the Summit of the Americas meeting in November, where the US failed to force through its key project for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which would further expose the continent to domination and exploitation by US corporations.www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/657/657p24.htm

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Muslim charity calls for fairness Inquiry found no link to terrorism:

A board member of a Toledo-based Muslim charity said yesterday that a Senate panel’s two-year investigation into possible terrorist links, which ended recently with no allegations of wrongdoing, was “reminiscent of the McCarthy era.”tinyurl.com/qo8lh

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Bush seeks legal authority to wiretap without courts :

After two months of insisting that President George W. Bush did not need court approval to authorize wiretapping of calls between the United States and suspected terrorists abroad, the administration is trying to resist pressure for judicial review while pushing for retroactive congressional approval of the program.www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/20/news/spy.php#

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Privacy Guardian Is Still a Paper Tiger:

A year after its creation, the White House civil liberties board has yet to do a single day of work.tinyurl.com/p66k7

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Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon Wishlists:

Vast deposits of personal information sit in databases across the internet. Terms used in phone conversations have become the grounds for federal investigation. Reputable organizations like the Catholic Worker, Greenpeace, and the Vegan Community Project, have come under scrutiny by FBI “counterterrorism” agentswww.applefritter.com/bannedbooks

Professor Krugman reminded us that last year America’s imports were 57% larger than her exports, that her borrowing binge was unsustainable and that, since a “soft landing” was unlikely, there could be a 30% fall in the value of the dollar in order to eliminate the trade deficit.www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1713364,00.html

Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11985.htm

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What Happened To My Country?

By Steve Osborn

My God! What has happened to my nation? My nation that no longer pays more than lip service to its Constitution and Bill of Rights, which have been a beacon to the world for over two centuries. My nation that unilaterally discards treaties that were the hope of a world of peace, guided by law and diplomacy. My nation that will wage a war of aggression against a far off nation that was no threat to it, but that has lots of oil. My nation that gives all of its wealth to the rich and is satisfied to leave its citizens to starve, homeless, unemployed and sickly. Continuedwww.informationclearinghouse.info/article11975.htm

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Why America will reap in Iran what it doesn‚t expect

By abid Ullah Jan

Emboldened by their adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, and deluded by the IAEA conclusion that Iraq has no nuclear weapons, the warlords are set to go into a war that will definitely lead to massive bloodshed in the Middle East and the downfall of the United States as we see it.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11981.htm

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WWIII or Bust: Implications of a US Attack on Iran

By Heather Wokusch

How ironic that the Pentagon proposes using nuclear weapons on the pretext of protecting the world from nuclear weapons. Ironic also that Iran has complied with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowing inspectors to “go anywhere and see anything,” yet those pushing for an attack, the USA and Israel, have not.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11980.htm

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Video: Why We Fight

What are the forces that shape and propel American militarism? This award-winning film provides an inside look at the anatomy of the American war machine.

Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life?

A look behind the philosophy and practice of Americas push for domination of the worlds economy and culture

US Army War College Quarterly

There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3011.htm

Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has said he rejects the Iraqi constitution backed by his partners in the biggest parliamentary bloc, threatening a new crisis over one of the country’s most explosive issues.tinyurl.com/od87c

An Iranian group that claims its members are dedicated to becoming suicide bombers warned the United States and Britain on Saturday that they will strike coalition military bases in Iraq if Tehran’s nuclear facilities are attacked.tinyurl.com/pd2f9

Haniyeh said Israel’s new sanctions in the wake of Hamas’ election victory “were meant to force the Palestinians down to their knees … we’ve handled challenges in the past and we will be able to stand up to future challenges as well,” he saidwww.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/684243.html

Khwaja, 32, also a mohajir, boasted that he had already “supplied” several dozen “suicide-ready Talibs” to camps inside Afghanistan in preparation for a spring offensive designed to hit the first British troops to begin patrolling in Helmand.tinyurl.com/erayc

CIA jets suspected of flying terrorist suspects to secret prisons for torture have landed at commercial British airports and received help from UK air traffic control, the authorities have admitted for the first time.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11978.htm

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UK police arrest stars of award-winning film “The Road to Guantanamo” under the Prevention of Terrorism Act:

Citing the “Prevention of Terrorism” act, British Police have arrested and interrogated three of the stars of the award-winning film “The Road to Guantanamo”, together with the three ex-Guantanomo detainees on whose story the film is based.www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/02/internet_exclus.html

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Blair’s new laws leave us at the mercy of future tyrants :

Osama bin Laden’s achievement was not to mastermind the flying of jets into the Twin Towers, not to franchise his brand of terrorism to a lot of savage young men, not even to inspire the invasion of Iraq. No, it was to spook the West and to fill our minds with fear so that we let security oppress liberty and turn us away from the abuse and torture occurring in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11983.htm

Pakistani police on Sunday raided offices and homes of dozens of radical Islamic leaders, putting several under house arrest and detaining hundreds of their associates in a bid to foil a rally in the capital, officials said.tinyurl.com/jqe7u

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At Least 15 Die in Nigeria Cartoon Protest :

Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5631392,00.html

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9 Foreign Oil Workers Seized in Nigeria :

Oil prices jumped more than $1 and settled near $60 a barrel Friday on supply concerns sparked by a militant threat to wage war on foreign oil interests.tinyurl.com/fwjr3

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday warned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not to “mess with” him days after Rice described Venezuela as a menace to regional democracy in the midst of tense diplomatic relations between the two countries.tinyurl.com/elrgz

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Pregnant immigrant miscarries after being abused by federal agents:

Asian-Americans and others demonstrated in both Philadelphia and New York City on February 15 to protest the abuse of a pregnant Chinese woman by federal immigration officers. The 32-year-old woman, Zhenxing Jiang, was carrying twins and suffered a miscarriage as a result.www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/immi-f17.shtml

By Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Nearly two years after the first pictures of naked and humiliated Iraqi detainees emerged from Abu Ghraib prison, the full extent of the abuse became known for the first time yesterday with a leaked report from the US army’s internal investigation into the scandal.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11969.htm

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The History of CIA Interrogation

From the Cold War to the War on Terror

Democracy Now! Audio Interview

Professor Alfred McCoy talks about his book “A Question of Torture‰, a startling expose of the CIA development of psychological torture from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib. CIA mercenaries attempted to assassinate McCoy more than 30 years ago.
Click here to listenwww.informationclearinghouse.info/article11965.htm

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Conservatives Endorse the Fuhrer Principle

Our leader über alles

By Paul Craig Roberts

Last week’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference signaled the transformation of American conservatism into brownshirtism. A former Justice Department official named Viet Dinh got a standing ovation when he told the CPAC audience that the rule of law mustn’t get in the way of President Bush protecting Americans from Osama bin Laden.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11968.htm

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How Will We Know When We Have Lost, America?

By N K. A

We will know we have lost when we do what we have done in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Diego Garcia, Bagram and the other entirely secret and not so secret CIA and military detention centers round the world. We will know we have lost when the first target in the massacre of a village or city is its hospital.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11963.htm

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Flamethrowers

By Chris Floyd

A militarist state must have war: to justify its draconian rule (and those $550 billion “defense” budgets), to find new fields for dominion and swag, and to seal with blood its illegitimate compact with the people, seeking to make them complicit in its crimes, which are committed in their name, for their “security.”www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11962.htm

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Europe’s contempt for other cultures can’t be sustained

A continent that inflicted colonial brutality all over the globe for 200 years has little claim to the superiority of its values

By Martin Jacques

When Europe dominated, there were no or few feedback loops. Or, to put it another way, there were few, if any, consequences for its behaviour towards the non-western world: relations were simply too unequal. Now – and increasingly in the future – it will be very different. And the subject of these feedback loops, or consequences, will concern not just present but also past behaviour.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11960.htm

The US military has warned that rebel attacks across Iraq have increased 30 percent over the past few weeks, the statement coming as attacks across the country Thursday wounded 30 people and killed at least eleven.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=134479

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Japan plans Iraq troop withdrawal:

Japan will start withdrawing its troops from Iraq in late March, around the same time Britain will begin its pullouttinyurl.com/aqu9k

ABC News has learned today that President Bush will ask Congress for an additional $65.3 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It brings the total funds requested this year to more than $110 billion for those operations.tinyurl.com/akwna

Now that the cakewalk that was to be our invasion of Iraq is nearing its third anniversary and the roses that were to be thrown at us have turned into improvised explosive devices, it has become official ˜ we are engaged in a long war. Make that “The Long War.‰www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11971.htm

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A must listen interview: Self-Described Economic Hit Man John Perkins:

In 1993, there were just 700,000 passenger cars in the entire country of China. By 2003, there were 5 million. In 2005, Chinese companies sold 5 million new passenger cars and its 2006 production capacity is now estimated at 8 million new cars.www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=128992

The Bush administration helped derail a Senate bid to investigate a warrantless-eavesdrop- ping program Thursday after signaling it also would reject Congress’s request to have former Attorney General John Ashcroft and other officials testify about the program’s legality.tinyurl.com/agjtl

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Judge Orders Action on Spying Documents :

A federal judge dealt a setback to the Bush administration on its warrantless surveillance program, ordering the Justice Department on Thursday to release documents about the highly classified effort within 20 days or compile a list of what it is withholding.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11961.htm

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Bush May Be Crossing the Rubicon From Republic To Dictatorship:

Through the justifications it has put forth for warrentless wiretapping, the Bush administration is almost literally crossing the Rubicon, beginning the process of transforming the United States from a republic into to a presidential dictatorship.tinyurl.com/b3ccp

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In case you missed it:

Despotism & Democracy :

Measures how a society ranks on a spectrum stretching from democracy to despotism. Explains how societies and nations can be measured by the degree that power is concentrated and respect for the individual is restricted. Where does your community, state and nation stand on these scaleswww.informationclearinghouse.info/article4971.htm

On Wednesday, February 15, 2006, a group of war resisters began a 34 day liquids only fast in Washington, DC. The fast is sponsored by the Voices for Creative Nonviolencetinyurl.com/d35ll

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US says has “inoculation” strategy to curb Chavez:

Washington wants to curb Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s anti-American influence by lobbying allies to try to expose any anti-democratic policies, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11970.htm

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Chavez Calls U.S. Foreign Policy ‘Crazy’ :

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mocked Washington’s foreign policy as “crazy” Thursday for labeling his government as one of the region’s biggest dangers just days after making a diplomatic overture to mend frayed ties.tinyurl.com/7pawl

A military order that took effect last week bars Palestinians in the West Bank from entering Israel via the roads that Israelis use, even if they are transported by Israelis. Instead, Palestinians must use one of 11 crossing points earmarked for them.www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/684024.html

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Israel blocking Hamas members from PLC swearing-in :

Israel decided on Friday to block Hamas members of the Palestinian parliament from traveling from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank city of Ramallah for Saturday’s swearing-in ceremony, Israel Radio reported. The ceremony will instead be conducted via video conference.www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/684030.html

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Bush Faces Big Choices as Hamas Takes Reins:

On the eve of Hamas’ takeover of the Palestinian parliament, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush still appears uncertain about how hard a line to take with the movement it has long considered a terrorist organisation.www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32190

As death toll in gunship attack on bunkerers rises to 30: AN oil well operated by Shell 30 kilometres south of Port Harcourt caught fire yesterday 24 hours after militant youths threatened revenge against it for making its facility available for an attack on an Ijaw community in Delta Statewww.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/headline/f117022006.html

Global warming is causing the Greenland ice cap to disintegrate far faster than anyone predicted. A study of the region’s massive ice sheet warns that sea levels may – as a consequence – rise more dramatically than expected.news.independent.co.uk/environment/article345927.ece

After trying to get me to say that Cheney and Pamela Willeford had an affair (which I wouldn’t – I stick with what I know), Tucker Carlson confronted me on “The Situation” tonight* about the fact that Willeford’s husband was apparently on the ranch at the time of the incident.tinyurl.com/axdrd

These are the photos the American Government doesn’t want you to see. While researching a story on guards at Abu Ghraib, I obtained a copy of the unreleased photographs and videos. Taken at the same time as the photos released in 2004 and often of the same abuses, this is the first time they have been shown to the public.

The photographs illustrate in excruciating detail the commitment to physical coercion that the Bush administration has vigorously defended in its legal memoranda and justified in terms of its war on terrorism. The battered faces and hooded victims of American brutality attest to the shocking inhumanity of the present campaign.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11956.htm

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Eyes Wide Open

By Chris Floyd

What shall we say when history asks how such crimes came to be committed in the name of America? Will we say that we stood silently by, shrugging our shoulders, filling our bellies, closing our eyes? Or will we be able to say: We saw. We dissented. We resisted. We condemned.tinyurl.com/dq54f

The U.S. military has stumbled across the first evidence of a death squad within Iraq’s Interior Ministry after the detention last month of 22 men wearing police commando uniforms who were about to shoot a Sunni man, according to the American general overseeing the training of Iraqi police.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11955.htm

The Pentagon has confirmed the authenticity of a set of photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib that were aired for the first time on Wednesday by Australian television, a defence official said.www.dawn.com/2006/02/16/top6.htm

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Iraq calls on US to hand over Iraqi detainees:

Iraq‚s human rights minister called on US-led forces on Thursday to hand over all Iraqi inmates at US-run prisons to the Iraqi government, following more footage of prisoners being abused.tinyurl.com/9h3w2

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Outrage Spreads over New Images :

New footage of British soldiers beating up young Iraqi men in Amarah city in 2003, and the release of more photographs of atrocities by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison has spread outrage across Iraq.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11949.htm

“Over time, the insurgency appears to have become more coordinated, confident, sensitive to its constituents’ demands and adept at learning from the enemy’s successes and its own failures,” according to the report, “In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency”.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11953.htm

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The Iraq war’s defining weapon:

The threat posed by Iraq’s reported possession of weapons of mass destruction was the excuse US President George W Bush gave for his invasion of Iraq in 2003, but it is the simplest of technologies – the roadside bomb – that has emerged as the biggest nightmare for US occupation forces in Iraq.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11952.htm

Saddam Hussein told aides in the mid-1990s that he warned the United States it could be hit by a terrorist attack, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing 12 hours of tapes the network obtained of the former Iraqi dictator’s talks with his Cabinet.tinyurl.com/bp4h6

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Talking to terrorists:

The New Statesman can reveal that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has – decided on a policy of engagement with what it calls “political Islam”. To this end, it proposes to develop “working-level contacts” in Egypt with one of the Middle East’s most militant groups, the Muslim Brotherhoodwww.newstatesman.com/200602200006

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Propaganda ? France accuses Iran over nukes:

The French foreign minister has accused Iran of pursuing a clandestine military nuclear programme.tinyurl.com/bnab8

Russia’s top military chief on Thursday warned the United States against launching a military strike against Iran and a top diplomat voiced hope that close cooperation with China could help resolve the Tehran nuclear crisis.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11957.htm

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Bush plans huge propaganda campaign in Iran:

The Bush administration made an emergency request to Congress yesterday for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount the biggest ever propaganda campaign against the Tehran government, in a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the west.www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329413536-110878,00.html

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House condemns Iran’s nuclear program:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution condemning Iran for its nuclear program, and urging the international community to apply sanctions to deny it the ability to develop atomic weapons.tinyurl.com/bnwtw

Israel will bar Gazan workers and goods from entering Israeli territory and impose other harsh economic sanctions after a Hamas-dominated parliament is sworn in this weekend, security officials have saidtinyurl.com/bpr2u

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ŒCollective Punishment‚, Cries Hamas :

Incoming Hamas legislator Mushir Al-Masri said Thursday that Israel‚s tough response to its new role as majority party in the Palestinian Authority is tantamount to “collective punishment”.www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=98671

Israel will try to delegitimize the new Palestinian Hamas government by insisting that international aid be given to humanitarian organizations and not the PA authorities.www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/683458.html

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Hamas to rely on Muslim funds:

Ismail Haniya, set to be named Palestinian prime minister, has said that a Hamas government would rely on help from the Muslim world if the West acts on threats to axe funds once it takes officetinyurl.com/cbyta

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Republicans Criticize Bush Mideast Policy:

Republican senators criticized the Bush administration Wednesday over its policies in Iraq, Iran and the Palestinian territories, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s first testimony on Capitol Hill in months exposed her to a tough grilling from some members of her own partyabcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1622428

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Secret Data Exposed in Terrorism Case: :

Federal officials in Dallas mistakenly disclosed classified counter-terrorism information in a breach of national security that could also threaten one of the country’s biggest terrorism prosecution cases, newly unsealed court records show.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11954.htm

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Civil liberties fear as US terror suspect list rises to 325,000 :

Civil liberties organisations expressed outrage yesterday after it was reported that the database of terrorist suspects kept by the US authorities now holds 325,000 names, a fourfold increase in two and a half years.www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1710756,00.html

There is a temptation that seeps into the souls of even the most righteous politicians and leads them to bend the rules, and eventually the truth, to suit the political needs of the moment. That arrogance of power is now on display with the Bush administration.tinyurl.com/cyxtl

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The Global Free Fire Zone:

The Air Force has put out a “Prompt Global Strike Request for Information,‰ beginning the process of examining alternatives for new weapons capable of hitting targets anywhere on earth.tinyurl.com/d4gge

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Ron Paul: The End of Dollar Hegemony :

A hundred years ago it was called “dollar diplomacy.‰ After World War II, and especially after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, that policy evolved into “dollar hegemony.‰ But after all these many years of great success, our dollar dominance is coming to an end.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11946.htm

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Haiti’s Rene Preval Is Declared Winner of Election:

The winner of the controversial elections in Haiti, Rene Preval, is a former ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and has inherited his following among the poor.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4718966.stm

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US troop deployment sparks protests in Dominican Republic:

The landing of hundreds of US troops at a port city in the Dominican Republic, barely 80 miles from the Haitian border, sparked protests and warnings that Washington may be preparing another military intervention aimed at quelling the popular unrest that has erupted in Haiti over attempts to rig the presidential election.www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/domi-f16.shtml

Authorities are investigating a series of attacks on Detroit-area Muslims, including an assault on a cleric who was hit with a shovel and reports that a group of youths threw shoes at worshippers in a mosque.tinyurl.com/bzwdl

We, the people of the United States, despite our status as one of the most technologically advanced nations on the face of the earth, remain among the most ignorant about the world we live in. And yet we continue to hold forth that we have some sort of divine right of intervention, where a nation of some 300 million is self-empowered to dictate to billions of others the terms in which we all coexist on the planet.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11928.htm

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The Anti-Empire Report

How I spent my 15 minutes of fame

By William Blum

Americans are all taught from childhood on of the significance and sanctity of free elections: You can’t have the thing called “democracy” without the thing called “free elections”. And when you have the thing called free elections it’s virtually synonymous with having the thing called democracy. And who were we taught was the greatest champion of free elections anywhere in the world? Why, our very same teacher, God’s country, the good ol’ US of A.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11941.htm

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Cheney’s Chappaquiddick

The Real Story Emerges

By RJ Eskow

The real story is already emerging, if you’re willing to do a little digging. Cheney and Whittington went hunting with two women (not their wives), there was some drinking, and Whittington wound up shot. Armstrong didn’t see the incident but claimed she had, Cheney refused to be questioned by the Sheriff until the next morning, and a born-again evangelical physician has been downplaying Whittington’s injuries since they occurred. Neither the press nor law enforcement seems inclined to investigate.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11942.htm

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3 Schoolboys Among 17 Killed In continuing Violence:

A home-made bomb has killed three boys on their way to school in Baghdad, according to police.snipurl.com/mlny

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More Proof of Prewar Intelligence Manipulation by the Bush Administration:

Writing in the March/April 2006 issue of Foreign Affairs, Paul R. Pillar has launched a furious assault on the Bush administration for its manipulation of prewar intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and links to al Qaeda. Mr. Pillar should know, because he was the CIA’s National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia (NESA) from 2000 to 2005.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11927,htm

In Crude Designs, a report published by the UK-based non-governmental organisation Platform and the US‚s Global Policy Institute, oil analyst Greg Muttitt says if current plans are approved, Iraqi‚s will “lose control of more than 85 percent of their oil resources to foreign multinationals.”www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11940.htm

Two years ago, Christian Bailey and Paige Craig were living in a half-renovated Washington group house, with a string of failed startup companies behind them. Mr. Bailey, a boyish-looking Briton, and Mr. Craig, a chain-smoking former Marine sergeant, then began winning multimillion-dollar contracts with the United States military to produce propaganda in Iraq.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11939.htm

Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterdaywww.informationclearinghouse.info/article11932.htm

Threatening new sanctions, the United States accused Iran on Wednesday of defying the world by resuming uranium enrichment for nuclear fuel without resolving suspicions it secretly wants to build atomic bombs.snipurl.com/mlrc

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Congress on Wednesday for $75 million this year to build democracy in Iran, saying the U.S. must support Iranians who are seeking freedoms under what she called a radical regime.www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=83390

Suspected Taliban rebels abducted two Afghan intelligence agents in a western province and killed them, dumping their nearly decapitated bodies in the desert, a top official said Wednesday.snipurl.com/mlri

Arrests and interrogations of suspects in a recent series of suicide bombings in Afghanistan show that the attacks have been orchestrated from Pakistan by members of the ousted Taliban government with little interference by Pakistani authorities, Afghan officials say.www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3660308.html

EPAL remains tense as the 7-Party agitation against the Monarchy gains strength and the Maoist continue to have success on the battle-field.Sources within the Palace report the King and his family are preparing for exile.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11925.htm

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Lawmakers Blast Tech Giants Over China:

Members of Congress blasted four U.S. tech giants Thursday, accusing the companies of willingly helping China oppress internal dissent in return for access to a booming Internet market.snipurl.com/mlrn

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Behind the Manipulation of Haiti’s Election:

How long must Haiti continue to suffer? Judging by events over the past few days, the answer is: for at least some more time to come.progressive.org/mag_apb021406

The senate investigation of Hurricane Katrina is turning out to be another White House whitewash. The senate strategy has been to characterize the Bush administration‚s response as “a national failure‰ or “bureaucratic bungling‰ when in fact the evidence proves that the top officials in the administration, including George Bush himself, are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of New Orleans residents.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11921.htm

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Patrick J. Buchanan : Our hollow prosperity:

Last year, the United States ran a $202 billion trade deficit with China, the largest ever between two nations. We ran all-time record trade deficits with OPEC, the European Union, Japan, Canada and Latin America. The $50 billion deficit with Mexico was the largest since NAFTA passed and also the largest in history.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11938.htm

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Paul Krugman: Debt and Denial :

Denial takes a more systematic form within the federal government, where Dick Cheney is doing to budget analysis what he did to intelligence on Iraq. Last week Mr. Cheney announced that a newly created division within the Treasury Department would show that tax cuts increase, not reduce, federal revenue.www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11922.htm

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Cheney, “A Beer or Two” and a Gun John Nichols :

Dick Cheney, who is one of the small number of Americans who can count two drunk driving busts on his driving record, may have been doing more than hunting quail on the day that he shot a Texas lawyer in the face.snipurl.com/mlrs